chocolate and sea salt brownies

I haven’t posted anything under this section for a while, not because I’ve been doing less cooking but because I haven’t cooked anything I’ve tampered about with enough for it to qualify as an original. I’ve been cooking a lot from Economy Gastronomy lately which is really very good. Anyhow a colleague at work made these brownies a few months ago and as I usually find brownies too sweet and cloying I put it in my bag thinking I’d give it to Mr Rush Hour later but then I got peckish on the bus and by the time I’d gone two stops I’d eaten almost the whole thing, it was so very good. I begged the recipe and here, courtesy of my colleague Jennifer, it is. I’ve made them three times since as birthday presents and incidentally they are the perfect hangover cure too. The combination of gooey chocolate and salt is divine and, be warned, very addictive.

225g of butter cut into cubes
275g of dark chocolate in chunks (it’s important to use one with a cocoa content of 80% or more)
400g of caster sugar (I know, but you need it on account of the salt)
5 large eggs
200g plain flour
10g cornish sea salt
optional: 100g chopped fudge which gives a nice chewy texture but is not essential, seeing as how you’ve already used 400g of sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade or gas mark 4 and line a deep 20x30cm baking tin with baking paper
2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a pan over a gentle heat
3. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy and pale
4. Whisk the chocolate and butter mixture into the eggs and sugar
5. Sieve the flour in and fold in until combined. Stir in the salt and fudge if using
6. Pour into the baking tray and bake for about 35 minutes, but keep an eye after 25 minutes. The brownies still need to be squidgy when you take them out of the oven
7. Cool in the tin and then cut into small squares. They improve with age if you can hang onto them long enough.